Page 89 - Folsom Street Blues: A Memoir of 1970s SoMa and Leatherfolk in Gay San Francisco

Folsom Street Blues 73

as the play unfolded from a stage set of the ass-end of a semi-
trailer parked on a foggy loading dock. Welded chain curtains,
like those found in such rigs, divided the space for various scenes.
After this Teamsters’ production, we returned to the flat on
Clementina to reenact the roles of Edward and Piers Gaveston.
Off-off-Broadway stage and The Other Room melded into our
own personal performance space.
Another play, Wolf Lodge, I believe, perhaps in honor of Jack
London, took place in an isolated B&B lodge under the redwoods
of Sonoma County. Once the guests all retired and the embers
burned low, the “wolves” came out to howl, dance, and play with
pulley, hoist, and leather sling. Luc and I also followed this pro-
duction with an encore in The Other Room on Clementina Alley.
One day, when I was in the darkroom, printing sets of photos
of my Keyhole Studio models to send to sexually starving lonely
men in the hinterlands, I heard Luc come up the stairs and into
the flat.
“I got the part,” he hollered through the door.
“Which one?”
“Count Orlov!”
“I’ll be right out.” I finished and came out of the bathroom I
had set up as a darkroom.
“There’s only one thing,” Luc added as we headed for the
kitchen in the back of the flat for coffee and cigarettes. “They
want me to shave my head.”
“Great,” I said. “You’ll look hot with a shaved head!”
“I don’t know…”
“I’ll tell you something about a shaved head, Luc. When I
had my head shaved I instantly became so-hot-got-to-have-you
for a whole gang of guys that hadn’t even looked at me before.”
“Well…”
“Of course there were those who acted like they didn’t know
me after my head was shaved.”
“Maybe they didn’t. That’s what I’m afraid of.”
“Luc, I’ve never known you to be afraid of anything in your
life. You’re going to be as hot as a billiard ball up Sal Mineo’s ass.”
“Will you shave it for me?”
“Damn right I’ll shave you. We’re going to do it in the